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30. DEAN KARNAZES: There’s no struggle in our lives

Dean Karnazes (1962-) is an American ultramarathon runner, author and was named one of the world’s top 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2006. When I first read about Dean I could instantly relate to his story. At the age of 30, he realised he hated his corporate job and quit to pursue his true passion of running. (I was 29 when I quit my job last year.) Karnazes hasn’t looked back since, becoming the world’s most recognised ultramarathon runner, raising money for charities through his races and inspiring others to overcome adversity.

I don’t need to run a marathon to know what it’s like to struggle. My struggles did not make me happier. I’ve experience poverty and deprivation enough to appreciate what comfort I have now. It’s not great, but it’s better than what I’ve had.

I agree with Jim. I have been well below the poverty line my entire life and I was on the streets for several years. Those who have become bored with their comforts have no idea how lucky they are. I enjoy being able to wake up in my warm bed, having (enough)food in my kitchen to be able to know that I will be able to eat today and being able to bathe when I wish. Although it is nice that Dean Karnazes and others are able to gain a form of income by doing something they enjoy, there are enough of us out there who have been out of work for a goodly while, have no other special talents/abilities and are having a huge struggle just trying to stay afloat. So sum up this comic/drawing: “first world problems”.

Dean was just talking about the slothfulness of a lot of people today and the joy of pushing ones physical capabilities – don’t think he necessarily meant the struggle for food/shelter/income/survival.

I come from both sides; I have a background of struggle in terms of survival in the modern world, and I also enjoy constructed struggle in outdoors or sports activities. What this cartoon brings up for me is that we manufacture activities that help us feel “alive” while still maintaining the standards of comfort outside of those activities. We drive to a gym in order to sweat hard for an hour or two, but we look for the nearest parking space to the door. One of the many funny contradictions that exist in our modern world.

What I’ve really enjoyed about these “cartoon quotes” is that they always create a point for discussion; I appreciate the effort and time it takes to create these, and that there’s a mix of quotes which are commonly spread and ones that are more obscure. (Loved that you did the Litany against Fear, btw. Read the book yet?)

The first time I read ‘Ultra Marathon Man’ it was really hard to resist the temptation to run. My favorite quote from that book, (if I remember correctly it is something his friend said to him): ‘Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: “WOW!! What a ride!”‘

You never seize to amaze me! Somehow you find the best quotes and integrate them into fantastic comics that speak to the emagination. Thanks for this. On a side note: Will you be doing some horizontal 1 frame comics anytime soon? I’d love to have one of your drawings as a background image on my computer. Love from The Netherlands!

I met Dean at the Chicago Marathon Expo. Great guy and a huge motivator and running idol to me. It’s not about the distance, its about overcoming the feeling of ‘I can’t’ or ‘I won’t’ with the overwhelming feeling of ‘I did’. The journey is what makes it worth it. The finish line is extra. It isn’t always about running. Everyone has an adventure.

i know i’m lucky to have job that pays me every month – although it didn’t make me feel happy inside.
that’s why i’m struggling to defeat the stress by playing more music, drawing more sketches, and try to remember, how lucky i am to have a warm shelter and a full stomach.

and i know, the limit of a ‘comfort life’ we should have. whenever i could, i use bus or taxi, i don’t need my own car. whenever i am able to climb stairs, then i will. and in fact, i don’t have any smartphone right now to avoid such intensive calls that will kill my personal time (you know, like blackberry and such). it’s all in the limits we could push.

sometimes, i think “Karnazes running”, is me keeping up myself to stay as who i am, against the majority of life.

Here’s an excerpt from his Fight Club book that I think fits this strip –

“God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables, slaves with white collars, advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need.

“We’re the middle children of the history man, no purpose or place, we have no Great war, no Great depression, our great war is a spiritual war, our great depression is our lives, we’ve been all raised by television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars, but we won’t and we’re slowly learning that fact. and we’re very very pissed off.” ? Chuck Palahniuk

My life has had its shares of struggles and I’ve worked hard to get to this point of comfort. At the same time I do see that this comfort does not push us as a Western culture to strive beyond our own boundaries anymore, which is why I run-to challenge myself and my own boundaries. On the flip side, when I discussed this with my mother who was a child of parents during the depression and World Wars, this is what our grandparents were fighting for; a generation that could live life without fear and constant daily struggle to survive.

When we feel discontented we are often tempted to think that the problem is out modern world. We envy people of the past, thinking that their lives were simpler and some how better. We forget that they had problems we need never worry about. We also for get that today some people have these problems today. I remember reading something once about Sierre Leone after the civil war. A female aid worker recalled seeing young children eat food off the ground, and by the ground, i mean the dirt right next to them. They had no bowls or plates, or even a piece of paper or plastic to put their food on. Whenever someone complains about how modern life is making us soft, I remember that story, and I’m grateful for plates.

This quote is about trading one set of luxuries for another while lacking the self-awareness to understand that. Slamming your feet into pavement is a luxury . With a little Nerve damage Dean could discover that he doesn’t need to run marathons to feel struggle and pain. He gets a high from being a tourist to struggle and pain. What a douche

Can completely relate to this one. Had led comfortable few years after college. Was getting more money than my batch mates and colleagues. Life was good. It was Perfect was satisfactory. But not content. and one should never be content as it makes them complacent in life.

So I Quit that easy paying comfortable job and now own my Construction company. Struggle everyday, strive everyday but whats fun in otherwise aye

I was 22 when i left my 1st and only job as a software engineer for an MNC. Ma going to be 23 this Feb 26th Now I along with my childhood friends are trying to kick start a venture. As all of us are techies, we have no sense for business development. As I am from a typical middle class Indian family, family support, both in terms of financial and motivational are limited. All my other friends are earning a fat salary in their respective MNCs while we are trying here to raise even for the basic bills. Even in this short time of 10 months we fell so many times, failed and ridiculed. Many a times we felt like leaving the path but then a voice inside my mind says, “better be a wolf than a sheep” dont know whether we’ll succeed or fall flat on our faces but at my death bed m not gonna regret – Oh I wish I did what i wanted to Your posters give us energy Gav, everytime when we fall or fail. Your posters make us push ourselves Wish me luck people hope I will succeed

I’m amazed of how many people only stuck to pain and struggle and didn’t see beyond. It is not about how much you suffer but about how much you push yourself even though your body may hurt and struggling for high achievement. This is not about running, this is about leaving a comfort zone and about pushing yourself further. And a comfort zone can get anyone, even people who are struggling economically.

Coming from a poverty background myself (and still there), what saddens me is that a lot of these commentors don’t realize how valuable this comic is for their own lives, poverty or no. Yes, you are struggling to pay rent, to put food on the table, to stay alive – but when you’re living in that level of poverty you have little to no control over these things. Whether you get or keep a job isn’t up to you. Whether the landlord raises the rent isn’t up to you. The car breaking down isn’t up to you. Very little is up to you. And very little is winnable.

Poverty is not a life of valiant battles against a vicious and implacable foe. It’s a life of bracing for blows and hoping you have time to heal well enough to take the next before it falls. It’s 24/7 trench warfare. Most of the battles you fight in poverty are not battles you can ever win – they’re just ground you can either hold or lose, very often to factors you have no control over, only to have to get up and do it all over again tomorrow.

The problem is, the nervous system doesn’t deal well with that kind of stress. It’s evolved for the sort of short-term, *resolvable* fight-or-flight stress depicted in the original comic. You can neither fight (and win) in poverty, nor flee it. It’s not like slaying a mighty beast. It’s being overrun by an endless swarm of ants. And that’s how it kills you. Not because you fought and lost, but because no matter how many ants you kill, another hundred show up to take it’s place.

Working out is one of the few things you can do to take back some of that vital sense of control and let off some of that pressure before it kills you. Even if you’re so poor you’re facing eviction and living on the streets, it’s amazing how much better your life gets when you start getting fit. Pushing yourself physically helps you burn off toxic stress the way your body is designed to do that, and in the process you finally have a *winnable* foe to fight against for the first time in ages (whether that’s the next mile, the next pound lifted or lost or just your inner “I can’t” voice). And let me tell you – as pointless and impossible as it sounds when you’re already exhausted from dealing with the daily grind, it’s amazing just how energizing and restoring it is to finally win a battle for a change. To slay a foe. To stand on top of the hill of skulls for once, rather than always being one of them.

And on the physical side, as you get stronger you get more and more able to deal with the stress of your daily grind without losing so many hit points in the process. It also helps improve your mood (which is usually pretty piss poor, because life in a foxhole/trench warfare sucks mighty balls) and gives you the coping buffer to jump at opportunities that do come up that you might otherwise be too damned tired or beat down to chase. Trust me, I’ve been about as poor as it gets (eating out of dumpsters, living rough, etc). I’m *not* talking from a place of privilege here. Fitness is currently saving my poverty-level ass, not adding to my struggles, by keeping me healthy and out of the expensive doctor’s office (no insurance here), by giving me something to look forward to and by giving me a chance to get out of the trench now and then to fight a battle I can win.

Woah!! now,this one is very very powerful!!
I’ve been reading your sketch-comics since few days. It had filled me with real happiness. Its like a comic-book that u r stuck in even being an adult.What you’re doing is quite a noble act. Keep up the good-work coming. All the very Best!! May the Nature bless you!

Interesting that all these people who presumably live in countries with some form of public health, social welfare, and a police force all still find things to cry about. Sure, some cops are corrupt, some health systems are broken, and some social welfare systems don’t pay nearly enough. But sometimes life is hard, and it’s those times, those moments of adversity, where we discover what we’re really made of. And if you still want to whinge about it, think of third world countries and ancient times when most children didn’t make it past 5, your land was owned by people who gave you NO rights, and disease was a constant threat. So please, PLEASE, stop your crying. Because nobody wants to hear it. Just struggle HARDER.

Well damn, this made me tear up a bit. I work in an admin job now but i’m running a marathon at the end of August. I don’t know how i’ll do but this gives me hope. I can imagine being able to quit my job to do it but it would be a nice dream